Life off the grid in the SW Texas desert. An experiment in sustainable living. NUMBERS AT THE END OF EACH BLOG POST: temp at 8PM,high temp,low temp,rainfall,wind conditions(CalmBreezyWindyGusty). Live streaming video at http://ustre.am/TM8N

Friday, October 10, 2008

Dammit some more

Another early start but just a shift and a half today. The morning began with Benita showing up for breakfast with 8 other longhorns. We had a thunder and lightning storm last night that must have stirred them up. Got .115" of rain in an hour last night. Anyway, after Benita came up to the house I chased the rest of the rascals away - then treated Benita to breakfast. As soon as she was done she wondered off to find the herd. I spent a sweaty morning building the forms for the next phase of concrete on the dam.

Took a lunch break and drove Chuck down to Study Butte. We both had to run some errands and diner food seemed like a nice perk. I stopped by to see my friend Carolyn at H20 To Go and she just happened to have an old hot water heater she wanted to get rid of. This will be transformed into a solar hot water heater to supplement my systems. Checked with the local hardware store down there but they were out of concrete mix.

I ended up buying 2 more 80lb bags at the ranch supply store and picked up two from Chuck. By the time I got back to work it was already 2:30PM. Finished pouring concrete by 5PM. Just one more day of form building and concrete pouring and the dam will be finished. We have a good chance of rain this weekend so I might just catch some. Benita spent the day with the herd but came home for supper. Another longhorn was with her but refused to follow her down my driveway. If he was a bull - he didn't have the balls to come all the way up to my house with her. Glad to see she is following a herd again. She spent a number of weeks on her own after she lost her calf. I like to think I helped her out - she's looking pretty healthy these days.

1 comment:

If the remnants of Hurricane Norbert make it your way, you might get a lot of rain, John. ;-)

Are you lining the dam with anything to contain the water?

After lots of thought and planning I've decided I am heading your way in the Spring to try to find property to build Ark Phoenix. Lots to do before I can relocate all my materials and get the hell out of California. ;-)